Thursday, April 2, 2009

Piping Plovers on Cape Cod

Forget spring fever, I have summer fever! I can hardly wait for it to be beach season. This editorial cartoon on CapeCodOnline.com made me laugh and think back fondly on my trips to the Spit in Popponesset in Mashpee.

There's a piping plover nesting area at the Spit, and this cartoon is not too far off from reality. During the most critical time of nesting season there are Audubon volunteers who actually patrol the roped-off area to make sure dogs and children don't trample the nests. Not only do they patrol the borders of the nesting site, they also provide educational pamphlets explaining why that area is off-limits.

I know I have video footage and pictures of piping plovers on Martha's Vineyard and in North Truro but I guess I haven't posted them yet. I just have pictures of a pacific golden plover in Hawaii, and a semipalmated plover in East Sandwich. I'll have to go through my laptop at home and find them. Actually, an interesting fact about the semipalmated plover- semipalmated means "half-webbed" referring to its two toes.

5 comments:

His kids were small and the brother screams at his sister, "Hey, you're not suppose to touch those birds!"The little sister screams back angrily, "I'm just petting it".My co-worker said all eyes turned to the direction of the kids with his little daughter "petting" a baby plover. :lol:Neither the child or bird was hurt :)

@Spencer- that's good to hear! You're right- they do need all the help they can get. On Cape Cod there are a lot of people who get frustrated when portions of the National Seashore are closed to Oversand Vehicles because of nesting plovers. But usually the closings are only temporary, and the birds really do need that much of a protection barrier.